Oh, it's the holidays

 "He's hiding something," Matty said about Sunny and his sudden appearance back home.

Valentina swallowed back the notion to mention her conversation with Sunny from a few weeks ago at the University. She hated to keep this from Matty, but she wanted to get along with holiday happiness and of course, crossing off her holiday list.

"Well, did he seem OK?" Val asked as she picked up a coffee up on sale at their favorite place to shop. Naturally, Matty said his brother looked like the Sunny he knew, but he still felt something was off.

 Val put back the coffee cup. Everyone had too many coffee cups. She sighed thinking she'd never find her brother a gift for Christmas. There was Ivy and her baby to think about, to. She couldn't leave them out. Honestly, the shopping was giving her a headache. Maybe just a family-friendly gift bag was the way to go or even a grocery store gift card.

"Are you OK?" Matty looked at her and put his hand on her forehead. She closed her eyes as if to take a quick nap. After all, it was snowing outside. Funny how all that white snow made her sleepy.

"You've got a fever," he said. "We shouldn't be here."

"But I have to. I..I have to find Dan something." She looked at him as if he was no way a doctor. He was teasing her, perhaps.

"Didn't you crochet him a hat and a scarf?"

"Well," she knew he needed more. It was such a simple gift.

"It's homemade." Matty looked at her as if she was overdoing her gift-giving.

She was tired. So tired.

Matty put his arm around her. "Let's go home. You need some sleep." He told her Dan would say the same thing.

It was on the drive home that Valentina finally told him about Sunny. "At first, I thought he was just trying to get Rosie back," she shrugged. "I thought he might still be in love with her." She closed her eyes, and Matty knew she felt sick. He hoped it wasn't anything serious. 

After all, they'd found THEIR TIME during the Thanksgiving holiday. Of course, it was in the car and they were late to Dan's. But he thought it was good. But what did he know? It wasn't like they could do the intimate moments just anywhere at any time. A lot of planning was involved. After all, he was trying his best to be the best boyfriend he could be these days. Still, seeing Sunny after all this time, he was curious about him. He even wanted to ask him about these sorts of relationship issues. But now, he didn't want to.

Maybe Sunny was seeing someone on the sly. But who? He didn't think it was Rosie. No, they'd been to Rosie and Chance's and he knew they were tight. After all, they lived in a tiny place, and well, what could either hide from each other.

"What are you thinking?" Val wanted to know.

"Nothing." He kept his eyes on the slick road. Honestly, he didn't like this kind of weather. Especially, the early snows. Getting used to winter roads was a worry he might never get used to. He didn't even like running in this stuff. "Do you think anything could be the matter?"

He was doing his part. There was always a condom or two in his wallet. Sometimes, he thought she was the one who wanted to make time for such excursions.  But maybe he was wrong. Maybe this was all on him. Oh, he'd go along with whatever Val wanted to do. 

Although, it was a feat finding the alone time. Like in his room when no one was home. Or maybe at her place when her parents were out. And now the car. The place they'd both vowed would never ever happen. It had happened in the backseat of this car that his Dad trusted him in.

He winced hard thinking they were those kinds of people after all. What in the world had happened to them? Matty sighed. He had no time to worry about what Sunny was up to. His own life was practically a wreck. This grownup stuff was getting pretty fierce.